Show us your guitars!

[Multicore]

Got an email from Fender a couple of weeks ago. Big Squire sale. Yellow Strats and Green Teles for $150.00. I said to myself, "I really don't need another guitar. But it's yellow. And I don't have a yellow one." The logic was unassailable.

However I figured it couldn't be any good for the price, so I made plans to use it as a mod platform. But when it arrived I was knocked out. Played great, no buzz, switch switched, pots potted, pickups picked up. Made by CorTek Indonesia. How they do it for so little dollars is beyond me. Keeping it as it is.

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The logic is indeed unassailable.

I see you play it through your Benchmark amp. I guess that's your clean channel, huhuh.

 

[RayDunzl]

However I figured it couldn't be any good for the price, so I made plans to use it as a mod platform. But when it arrived I was knocked out. Played great, no buzz, switch switched, pots potted, pickups picked up. Made by CorTek Indonesia. How they do it for so little dollars is beyond me.

Hmm...

 

[Moonhead]

I'm (still) just a beginner - need to practice more. Recently added a pignose PGG-200.

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I have heard from several pro musicans that Vintage guitars set the bar high and can on some accounts be better than fenders, I definitely want a Vintage V62 tele, when toddlers become school kids

 

[anmpr1]

Hmm...

All that aside, Cort is really an amazing operation. And it's not just the inexpensive spread, either. My understanding is the owners are guitar guys, and enthusiasts. PRS produced a video about their 'exclusive' Indonesian CorTek operation. There's also a YT about Epiphone's two factories in Qindao, which produce almost all of Epiphone models. Gibson have really raised the QC of Epiphones the last couple of years (along with the price. More in line with the Fender Mexico product, but no where near the equivalent USA models).

And their are others. I have Ibanez and Schecter that I'm pretty sure are made by World Musical Instruments out of Korea. I've heard that World also has a factory in Indonesia, but it's difficult to find much first hand information about them. Unlike CorTek, they are pretty low key, publicity-wise. Maybe they don't want to spoil their OEM mystique.

Since guitars are mostly 'hands on' labor intensive products, I'm sure that labor rates are a deciding factor in final cost to consumer. Phil McKnight tells a story of talking to one of the 'custom' guitar builders--might have been Mark or Jeff Kiesel, who said that today the quality of guitars can't be broken down in to 'cheap' or 'expensive' categories anymore, because it's hard to find a bad inexpensive guitar, like in the 'old days'. Instead, it's the difference between a 'quick' guitar and one that's not quick. He meant the actual 'hands on' time that is spent building the guitar. Maybe, but I wonder how much more time is spent making an 'off the shelf' Gibson Les Paul Standard as oppossed to an Epiphone LP Standard? Obviously when you get to the custom shop Murphy Lab stuff, it's an altogether different ball game because of the hand crafting involved.

Which brings me to a last point. People spend thousands of extra dollars on 'beat up' recreations of 'relic' guitars. You don't see that in audio. Yet why doesn't McIntosh make an Owsley Stanley Grateful Dead MC-2300 amp relic? One of the meter glass could be cracked, a rack handle bent in, and the front panel scratched. Maybe a missing knob or two? Sell it for twice the price of their regular amp. Include a 'Steal Your Face' sticker, and a special limited edition vinyl pressing of Europe '72. I think it's a no brainer.

 

[bluefuzz]

Here's a few of mine. Please excuse the bad photoshopping ...

Top row:
1. Self built copy of a Howe-Orme cylinder top 00 size.
2. 1898 Howe-Orme cylinder top parlour guitar (self restored)
3. 1949 Martin 00-17 (new bridge and neck reset)
4. Self built 12-fret 'falcate braced' L-00 style

Middle row:
1. 1919 Gibson L3 archtop (self restored)
2. Self built copy of Gibson Style-O from turn of the 20th Century
3. Self built copy of Gibson 'Robert Johnson' L1 flattop

Bottom row:
1. Self built copy of Martin style 12-fret 000
2. 1940s 'mystery Manouche' long (270 mm) scale (self restored)
3. Another 1940s short scale mystery Manouche (self restored)
4. My take on a OM size longish scale (648 mm) also using falcate bracing.

The two 'mystery Manouche' guitars are often attributed to Busato but I'm not so sure. They both look like they were built in the back of a caravan travelling at speed over cobble stones by a drunken Gypsy. Nothing is straight or symmetrical. Pine top and back/sides of construction grade two-ply veneer. However, they sound absolutely stunning. Pure Django!

The little Howe-Orme is interesting. Howe-Ormes were AFAIK built from the 1890s to around the first world war in the Boston area of the US. They have a cylindrical bulge along the length of the top, ladder bracing, adjustable neck joint and 'sweetened' fret placement. I believe they were the first guitars puposely built for steel strings. Very advanced for the time. Extremely lightly built and they sound magnificent. The little parlour sounds much bigger than its size. My attempt at a 'big brother' for it sounds pretty decent too, though I don't know how close it is to a real one ...

I have probably as many more guitars (both electric and acoustic plus sundry mandolins, banjos etc.) in various states of construction/disrepair. I really need to get rid of a few cause I'm running out of space ...

 

[anmpr1]

Here's a few of mine. Please excuse the bad photoshopping ...

Top row:
1. Self built copy of a Howe-Orme cylinder top 00 size.
2. 1898 Howe-Orme cylinder top parlour guitar (self restored)
3. 1949 Martin 00-17 (new bridge and neck reset)
4. Self built 12-fret 'falcate braced' L-00 style

Middle row:
1. 1919 Gibson L3 archtop (self restored)
2. Self built copy of Gibson Style-O from turn of the 20th Century
3. Self built copy of Gibson 'Robert Johnson' L1 flattop

Bottom row:
1. Self built copy of Martin style 12-fret 000
2. 1940s 'mystery Manouche' long (270 mm) scale (self restored)
3. Another 1940s short scale mystery Manouche (self restored)
4. My take on a OM size longish scale (648 mm) also using falcate bracing.

The two 'mystery Manouche' guitars are often attributed to Busato but I'm not so sure. They both look like they were built in the back of a caravan travelling at speed over cobble stones by a drunken Gypsy. Nothing is straight or symmetrical. Pine top and back/sides of construction grade two-ply veneer. However, they sound absolutely stunning. Pure Django!

The little Howe-Orme is interesting. Howe-Ormes were AFAIK built from the 1890s to around the first world war in the Boston area of the US. They have a cylindrical bulge along the length of the top, ladder bracing, adjustable neck joint and 'sweetened' fret placement. I believe they were the first guitars puposely built for steel strings. Very advanced for the time. Extremely lightly built and they sound magnificent. The little parlour sounds much bigger than its size. My attempt at a 'big brother' for it sounds pretty decent too, though I don't know how close it is to a real one ...

I have probably as many more guitars (both electric and acoustic plus sundry mandolins, banjos etc.) in various states of construction/disrepair. I really need to get rid of a few cause I'm running out of space ...

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[anmpr1]

2. Self built copy of Gibson Style-O from turn of the 20th Century

Very nice.

 

[anmpr1]

Not a big fan of acoustic. Probably because you have to know what you are really doing for that. With electric, I've found that it often doesn't matter what you are playing--if you add enough overdrive and distortion, and crank up the dBs, it's bound to sound good.

 

[bluefuzz]

The PRS is nice because it doesn't have the birds, which are gross

Gross indeed. I've never understood why PRS are so fetishized. While the 'halfway between Gibson and Fender' body shape is, at best inoffensive, their general fit and finish is so kitschy and ugly. They always look to me like they are built from a 1970s melamine kitchen counter top. And that headstock ...

 

[bluefuzz]

Very nice.

Thanks. It was an interesting project. I've always been fascinated by that ridiculously unnecessary scroll. So I had to make one!

By all accounts the originals were not great guitars and they had a habit of collapsing into the soundhole. On the whole I'm quite pleased with my rendition but it is by no means the best guitar I've ever heard ...

 

[bluefuzz]

Not a big fan of acoustic. Probably because you have to know what you are really doing for that.

Whatever for? I certainly don't!

While I understand the pleasing trouserflappingness of standing in front of a Marshall 4x12, I've come to the realisation that acoustic instruments are on the whole more interesting. And the neighbours don't complain as much.

Also if you want loud, the microphone has been invented ...

 

[Multicore]

More dog and guitars photos ... In my lap is a

Furch Blue OM-MM​

This guitar is tremendous fun. It is lively, responsive, and expressive. I use extra light (0.011 to 0.050) bronze-wound strings with silk and steel cores which makes it play like my electrics.

Lucy is on the window sill. She seems to like it when I play so long as I am not too loud or dramatic. The other acoustic there is my Yamaha LJ56 which I should feature in another post. The green one is a Schecter USA PT.

 

[Multicore]

Very nice.

Yeah. I guess the rest of us can quit now.

 

[Multicore]

Gross indeed. I've never understood why PRS are so fetishized. While the 'halfway between Gibson and Fender' body shape is, at best inoffensive, their general fit and finish is so kitschy and ugly. They always look to me like they are built from a 1970s melamine kitchen counter top. And that headstock ...

You just did a perfect job explaining why my black-painted 22-fret flat-top SE with oblique markers is the best PRS. Their standard body shape like this one is a good practical, ergonomic design imo. I like the look of the Vela better but its pickups and bridge are show stoppers. Actually, all PRS pickups are show stoppers.

 

[Alb_listens]

Wow, lots of great axes in this topic

Here are my two beloved guitars (plz don't mind the splatter painting on the wall, I need to renovate)

One is a very average USA Strato, I've only changed the pickguard after Al Di Meola signed the original one. The other is a modded RG2550, it has Petrucci's DiMarzios on it.

They're with me since '06 (the Iba) and '09 and have brought a lot of joy to me.

Thinking about a 7 string for a while...

 

[Valvetubehead]

 

[SIY]

Nothing fancy, mid-80s Takamine, Ovation, and Emily the Strange.

There's also a bass, trombone, and flute lurking about the music room.

 

[GD Fan]

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Great collection!

Really interesting bunch of Stratocasters. And it looks like their pickup heights are really low. Curious what the preference is for that / type of setup you like?

 

[stoo23]

And it looks like their pickup heights are really low

Yeah and seem to be generally Flat with regard to Treble and Bass ?? Interesting although Not what I would consider 'the norm' as such.

 

[analogonly]

A trio of Leo's finest

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Finally, something in a reasonable frequency range. Much nicer than mine: